Sunday, December 25, 2011

Smashwords Introduces New Ebook Gifting Feature

Smashwords yesterday released a new ebook gifting feature.

Because Smashwords books are available in multiple ebook formats, our books are readable on any e-reading device.

Simply click to the book you want to gift, and click the "give as gift" button. The shopping cart will ask you for their name and email address. The lucky recipient will receive an email with a hyperlink that allows them to claim their gift. If they're already logged in to their Smashwords account, the book will appear in their Smashwords Library. If they don't have a Smashwords account, they'll be prompted to register.

Prior to this new feature, authors were unable to purchase their own books. One advantage of the gifting option over Smashwords Coupons is that the recipient, assuming they're already a Smashwords member, can simply click the hyperlink in the email and the book is loaded into their Smashwords Library. No purchase or checkout process necessary.

In the next few weeks, we'll add new features based on your feedback. We'll also integrate prompts into purchase confirmation emails and review reminders so your fans are encouraged to purchase your book as a gift for their friends.

We've created a temporary email address where you can send your beta testing feedback and bug reports. Email gift at smashwords dot com

This is very cool! :) I also appreciate the new genres - I was happy to see "undead" under horror, though I have to admit I;d love to see vampires get their own category, but hey, I am a vampire junky, so it's to be expected ;)

Keep up the great updates to the site! :D That's one f the reasons I recommend Smashwords to everyone!

I'm a moderator over at Paranormal and Horror Lovers on GoodReads.com. We have a section that another moderator runs called Read 2 Review, where we have readers sign up and work with a writer so that the author can get more personal reviews and criticism.

We're developing an FAQ for the Rules of this section and one question that we have been asked repeatedly is, "Can the author gift a book to a reader via Smashwords? And if they can, will the author be charged for doing so?"

Emily, yes, an author can gift their book, though a better option is for the author to create a Smashwords coupon code for the reviewer. Smashwords authors will find the Smashwords Coupon Manager in their Dashboard.